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Friday, November 21, 2008
The Week Ahead: Retailers, Thanksgiving
Dunstan Prial
FOXBusiness
Retailers will remain under the spotlight next week as investors look for some signs that consumers haven’t given up on spending. Housing numbers will also be scrutinized during a short week that includes the Thanksgiving Day holiday.
Among the retail companies reporting third quarter earnings are: jeweler Tiffany & Co. (TIF), book seller Borders Group (BGP) and clothing companies J. Crew (JCG), Talbots (TLB) and American Eagle Outfitters (AEO).
In addition, earnings from computer maker Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Campbell Soup (CPB) home builder D.R. Horton (DHI) and agricultural-equipment maker Deere & Co. (DE) will all provide insight into the struggling U.S. economy.
October home sales will be released, and they’re likely to be down from a year ago. In addition, the government will report on existing and new-home sales. And the S&P/Case-Shiller indexes will detail home prices in 20 major U.S. cities in September.
Also on the economic front, preliminary third-quarter gross domestic product figure is due and some analysts are expecting a decline of 0.6%.
The private Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index for November will gauge consumer sentiment heading into the holidays.
MONDAY: earnings from Hewlett-Packard and Campbell Soup, plus existing home sales.
TUESDAY: earnings from American Eagle Outfitters, Borders, Dollar Tree (DLTR), Talbots and D.R. Horton, plus preliminary GDP figures and consumer confidence.
WEDNESDAY: earnings from Deere & Co., Tiffany & Co. and J. Crew, plus new home sales, and government figures on October durable-goods orders, personal income and personal spending, as well as the final number for the Reuters/University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index for November.
THURSDAY: Thanksgiving Day holiday, markets closed.
FRIDAY: New York Stock Exchange closes at 1 p.m.
FOX Translator
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A specialist is a member of a stock exchange who works as an auctioneer for a specific stock and/or stocks. It can be an individual, partnership, corporation or group of firms.
The specialist works to maintain a "fair and orderly market" for respective stocks, matching up buyers and sellers by displaying the best "bid" and "ask" prices at its trading post. If buys are not equal to sells, the specialist evens the scale by buying or selling shares, accordingly. However, they cannot make their own transactions until all investor orders have been placed.
Gauging supply and demand, the specialist sets an opening price for the stocks in its domain. If a price has not been set by the time the market opens, the specialist can delay that particular stock's opening.
Specialists make money off the "spread," which is the difference between bid and ask prices on orders.
